In Loving Memory of

Peaches, our dear beloved bovine friend.  A lady to the end.

mudess

As I was posting a comment to a friend's blog the other day, the word verification process came and I entered the given letters.  And then I laughed because it so described me and my boots that day:  mudess.  Yes, I have a new nickname for myself.  Mudess.  I like it, it has a nice (muddy) ring to it and looks somewhat elegant when capitalized, too.

"Yes, your Mudess, I will take the wheelbarrow full of manure to the compost pile right away."

(hee hee!)

Because I'm naturally nosy, I went to answers.com to see if I could find a definition for mudess, alas there was none.  Perfect!  (don't we all want to coin our own nicknames?)

The English student in me wants to add a "d" in there.  Muddess.  Is this "proper" spelling for a word that doesn't really exist?  Or, should it be left in all of it's un-glory of mudess?  Yeah, I just made up another word:  un-glory.  I kinda like it, too.

Speaking of liking words, let's review some of my favorites.  Please chime in at any time and add yours, too.

farmhousewife
field-mouse-itis
mudess

Okay, so I admit it.  I wondered what the next word verification would be so I went and posted another comment, which served a dual-purpose as I really did want to continue reading her blog because it's been a long while since I've been able to spend any amount of time reading anything except one or the other of two English or Religion textbooks.  So, the next word I got was:

~~drum roll~~

ratear

wha?  is that RAT-EAR or RA-TEAR or.....RATE-AR.  hmm.  Interesting.

Not quite as cute and quaint and befitting as mudess, but fun and completely useless nonetheless.

Have a great day!!  Anything you do after reading this will be considered productive so have at it!!

camera, thy camera, wherefore art thou?

It's highly personal, you know, this shopping for a camera.  For one, this is an intimate decision.  It will be close to my person almost all the time; like my favorite flip-flops. Second, I'm just very particular about my camera - having had a wonderful experience with a Canon, everything else seems less-than, now. Especially considering the much-to-be-desired experience I had with a Nikon and Fuji not too long ago.

But what is one to do when there are six hundred million five hundred fifteen thousand and one options to choose from?  And knowing that frugality is first and foremost on the priority list - do we buy used- and trust that it will all come out in the wash?  Or will we be smitten and then woe-is-me when it just suddenly stops working? Quality vs. Frugality - this is an excruciating compromise.

Of course all of the above can happen with a new camera.  With a warranty, even.

These simultaneously slow and tedious processes are at the top of my field-mouse-brain to-do list.

1. save for camera
2. shop for camera

Literally, number two is much more strenuous than number one. Shopping for a camera is stressful for me.  I get confused between the SD and the MP and the optical zoom and the MB.  Look for a digital camera lately that still has an actual viewfinder window?  Not just the humongous screen on which to review your taken photographs, but the little tiny eye ball window.  

So, here I am, talking to you, gentle and nearly faithful readers and asking for you to opine with me.  I'm not a professional photographer, although I like to pretend to be.  I love taking pictures, it is one of the very best ways I know to stay present; to live in the moment, while capturing a corner piece of the past to carry with me into the future.  It's my unorganized way of piecing together the visual quilt that is my life.  

Why is the choice of camera and picture-taking important to you?

Would you buy a used camera?

What are your thoughts on Canon?  Other brands?  

Do you pay close attention to how many MP and the amount of optical zoom or just go with an inexpensive price?  

Talk amongst yourselves, I'll be back with some herbal tea and we'll sit a spell and watch the clouds roll by.

Hope Farms ~where hope grows wild~

I've created a blog just for the farm.  It will focus more on farming and what we have for sale and less on me my musings.  Go check it out and tell me what you think!

http://hope-farms.blogspot.com

Links to Memory Lane

A dear friend of mine recently posted to her blog after a hiatus of nearly a year, and so when I went perusing I rewound pretty far (in blog-land-time) and found this post and then I found this one, too.

Big sigh.

It's so very special to have great people in your life, no matter how many miles or years apart you are. And this last (or first, depending on exactly how one chooses to walk down memory lane...) post makes my heart overflow.

Dear beloved friends, of past and present, and future: may we learn from one another, lean not on our own understandings, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.

Life is outstandingly better with friends. Thank you for making it so.

farmhousewife